Alaska Snow Cat
Member
That site actually has some decent cats from time to time.
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Is a Tucker for me?
- Thread starter The Sweet Wbj1
- Start date
That site actually has some decent cats from time to time.
Lyndon
Bronze Member
Tucker is still my first choice. 21 Years working in Prudhoe Bay and along the Trans Alaska Pipeline's 800 mile 'right-of-way', having owned 27 cats myself, it's hard to beat the versitility of a tucker. Sure, a 14 ft. wide Kassborher can "hold it's own" in deep powder or up a steep hill, but you can't use it anywhere but on a ski area. Want to get into some Remote site? Get a Tucker. No brakes, or clutches for steering, walk thru that weird shaped drift on some Cascades Logging road.....
Tucker is still "KING"!
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=22941
I rest my case.
Tucker is still "KING"!
http://www.forumsforums.com/3_9/showthread.php?t=22941
I rest my case.
hey hey hey , nice to hear from you, seems like a long time lyndon, and spot on about tucker!
Billdozer1
New member
I would have not continued to try an move forward, or spun the tracks. As it came to a stop, I would have dropped the blade as I reversed to back drag then continued forward. Of course that's easy for me to say,, I wasn't there.
Thanks for all the input fellas!! I am set on a Tucker for sure. The blade thing is the only thing holding me up. The vast majority of the time the Tucker would just be used to access our cabin. I know a blade is not needed for that. Got a neighbor that has been up there since "83 that had a Tucker for a few years. He said he made it no problem every time he ever tried to. Someone on here posted something along the lines of a locker, a blade and a winch are all just tools. May not need them all the time but when you do you would pay a hefty price to have one at the time. I don't want to get caught down the road wishing I had held out for a blade, but I don't want to get stuck this winter without a cat.
Billdozer1
New member
I would like to get my two cents in. I am a loyal Tucker customer and owner. I have operated a lot of utility cats in the last 40 years. All in the back country and mountains in California and Nevada. After seeing the picture of the road that you posted, it looks like you will be cutting in the road and trying to keep it in good passable condition. With that said, I would stay away from older Thiokol machines. I think you would wear yourself out pulling on laterals and operating the blade controls.
Whatever you get with a blade there are two different types of blade. One is more of a dozer straight blade, the other is a u-blade. Generally the dozer blade can be angled and you can push snow off the edge, but the curl on the blade is set and wants to just dig in. For that reason you are constantly raising and lowering the blade. This makes a choppy bumpy road with lots of washboard or wooptee doos . A u-blade is more for grooming. You can change the curl to change how much it digs in and also float the blade. I prefer the u-blade. I want to keep the snow on the road and smooth it out for future trips. Some of the LMC 1500 and 1800 machines have a 10 way blade with wings that kind of work like angling the blade.
I don't know how much time you have in Sno-Cats, but it sounds like this might be kind of new to you. It does take some time to learn the limits of whatever cat you may get and your personal limits. We all learned somehow and that can take time. The snow changes from one day to the next. In a Tucker you do not want to spin the tracks. You can get stuck! In a two track machine sometimes spinning a track can be useful but it can also get you stuck. In both types of cat when climbing a steep hill more throttle is not always the answer. At times I find I can climb steep hills by just letting the machine idle or just enough power to keep climbing. It can be slow but I will get there.
One thing I do at times is to find an alternate route. It may be easier than building a road. If you can catch a ridge above your road and use that when there is lots of snow, it may be faster and safer.
Air Lockers in Tuckers are GREAT! I don't care for the Detroit Lockers to much. A winch can come in handy and well worth having.
Anyway,, guess I could go on and on. If you have any questions shoot me a personnel message and we can talk. Good luck!
Whatever you get with a blade there are two different types of blade. One is more of a dozer straight blade, the other is a u-blade. Generally the dozer blade can be angled and you can push snow off the edge, but the curl on the blade is set and wants to just dig in. For that reason you are constantly raising and lowering the blade. This makes a choppy bumpy road with lots of washboard or wooptee doos . A u-blade is more for grooming. You can change the curl to change how much it digs in and also float the blade. I prefer the u-blade. I want to keep the snow on the road and smooth it out for future trips. Some of the LMC 1500 and 1800 machines have a 10 way blade with wings that kind of work like angling the blade.
I don't know how much time you have in Sno-Cats, but it sounds like this might be kind of new to you. It does take some time to learn the limits of whatever cat you may get and your personal limits. We all learned somehow and that can take time. The snow changes from one day to the next. In a Tucker you do not want to spin the tracks. You can get stuck! In a two track machine sometimes spinning a track can be useful but it can also get you stuck. In both types of cat when climbing a steep hill more throttle is not always the answer. At times I find I can climb steep hills by just letting the machine idle or just enough power to keep climbing. It can be slow but I will get there.
One thing I do at times is to find an alternate route. It may be easier than building a road. If you can catch a ridge above your road and use that when there is lots of snow, it may be faster and safer.
Air Lockers in Tuckers are GREAT! I don't care for the Detroit Lockers to much. A winch can come in handy and well worth having.
Anyway,, guess I could go on and on. If you have any questions shoot me a personnel message and we can talk. Good luck!
Good to see you here again Lyndon Here is the King of KINGS at Silcox last week. Come see again in April.
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Billdozer1
New member
I thought Tucker had that machine in Medford? Were you guys on that expedition?
Great thread! Thanks! First time I had seen that footage of the expedition!
Thanks for your insight Billdozer! Being from Atlanta, I am definitely a snow cat and snow ROOKIE! If we were talking about 4wds and mud I could hold my own, but not snow! I have learned a lot off of here and still have a lot of learning to do. Reading it is one thing and doing it is another.
I actually had not yet posted a picture of the road we will be using. I think that was one of the other guys. Most of our road to the cabin is through lots of timber. Once you get out of the oak brush and then past the aspens, the rest is through veryyyy thick dark timber. I am thinking there will be very little drifting in that and this is why our neighbor up there said he never needed a blade?? A friend of ours out there and his 21 year old grand son tried to go to our cabin in January on a snow machine and a rhino on mattracks and couldn't make it (can't vouch for his grand sons riding skills, the snow machine, or any of that). They turned around about a mile short of the cabin and at a 500' lower elevation. He said the snow was too sugary. Here is a pic of the road at that point. Just about out of most of the aspens at this point. Doesn't look like much compared to some of the pics I see other guys posting. Since this pic was taken they have gotten A LOT more snow up there.
Referb work for Tucker Corp.
I can't help but think that if your road is generally as wide as this, then the upper level is in the spruce, that the J. Arenz 1544 posted (link on first page) wouldn't work for you. Especially if the neighbor never needed a blade . . .
And more important, it appears from pictures to be in excellent shape.
And more important, it appears from pictures to be in excellent shape.
Billdozer1
New member
I agree with Davenet. I wasn't paying attention when I saw the picture of the excavator charring the tank up the road. I thought that was your road. Alaska Snow Cat put a link on page three that has a beautiful Tucker listed. I wouldn't mind having that one myself.
Rock and Roll is owned by the Tucker Sno-Cat Corp. in Medford Oregon. The restoration is a joint project with Tucker, Jinn and me. The plan is to have it at The Cat's Meow for Peter Fuchs to drive his father's Sno-Cat. So far so good.
Billdozer1
New member
That's very cool! When was that picture taken? Where is this event taking place? Since I purchased my 2000XL the folks at Tucker have been great. When I started Summit Communications I just had a little PB100. My competitor had already purchased a 2000XL and just couldn't say enough about it. Then in 2003 I ran into Gordon while up in Chester, CA. He invited my out to demo a machine he had over at the USFS. I reluctantly stopped by the next morning to check it out. He wanted me to drive it but there was no snow there. He said no big deal, we have rubber tracks. We got in and I drove it around the USFS yard twice. WOW! I went home and talked to the boss (my wife) and started making the arrangements to make a purchase. I think we have towed it over 120,000 miles working it all over Northern California and Nevada. And that's only in the winter. I wish I could have a new one! They just keep getting better.
The photo was taken last Friday. It was the test run after the engine/ Sno-Cat PRESERVATION not restoration. We had an overheating issue due to water blockage from left over shellcore matl. in the block. Works perfect now.See Davenet link to the Cat's Meow Jamboree at Timberline Lodge Oregon, made famous by Jack Nickelson The Shinning.
Snowtrac Nome
member formerly known as dds
Lyndon there are 2 tucker freighters up here not running the old snot trac still runs and I plan to have a second running next year. my Thiokol goes any place I need it to. the loader drivers won't even try to run up the roads behind town now that I have brutis running in their mind it's not worth the risk when an alpine type machine can effortlessly clear the roads. Yes I guess I'm the odd duck no trees up here, but after years of bv machines bombies and snow tracs my go to machine for the hard job's or work in the hills behind town the wide track is my first choice.